Trojans fight back, fall short

FAIR OAKS - Bella Vista appeared to put Friday's Sac-Joaquin Section Division I quarterfinal with Lincoln out of reach twice, and both times the Trojans rallied.

Comment

By Stephen Roberson

recordnet.com

By Stephen Roberson

Posted Feb. 23, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Stephen Roberson
Posted Feb. 23, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

FAIR OAKS - Bella Vista appeared to put Friday's Sac-Joaquin Section Division I quarterfinal with Lincoln out of reach twice, and both times the Trojans rallied.

In the end, it was - as the cliché goes - too little, too late.

The No. 6 Trojans, who trailed by 13 with 1 minute, 45 seconds remaining, lost to the No. 3 Broncos 67-63.

"You always feel good when you fight your hardest at the end," Lincoln coach Gary Greeno said. "They just made a couple big runs there that really hurt us."

Ryan Fernandez led the Trojans (22-6) with 18 points, Joseph Harrison had 16 and Wesley Dulan finished with 11. Ahmad Smith made all three of Bella Vista's 3-pointers and matched Fernandez with 18 points for the Broncos (23-5), who will play No. 2 Elk Grove-Pleasant Grove in the semifinals at 9 p.m. Wednesday at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento.

After falling behind 46-34 near the end of the third quarter, Lincoln cut the deficit to 51-48 with 4:40 remaining.

"I thought we were going to win this game," Fernandez said. "We grabbed the momentum, we were getting layups, they were missing free throws.

"I thought we were going to get the win."

Bella Vista, which converted 6 of its first 7 free throws, made just 6 of 12 in the final 1:04 of the game, and the Trojans capitalized.

Harrison had an offensive rebound and put-back that made it 66-61 with 20 seconds left, then converted a layup with 10 seconds remaining to make it a three-point game, 66-63.

Dominic Driggs, who scored 17 for the Broncos, made 1 of 2 free throws with 9 seconds left, making it a two-possession game and essentially securing the win.

"It was a good second-round game," Broncos coach Dave Gonzalez said. "There are no easy games. I'm just glad we made some plays to win it."